The BBC News website reports that UK Police made 733,237 requests to view communications data over a three-year period according to a report by Big Brother Watch, equivalent to an access request every two minutes.

Police Officers wanting to gain access to communications data have to be internally approved by a senior member of the relevant force and on average 96% of such requests are approved.

Big Brother Watch wants more transparency about how such requests are authorised and the crimes the data is used to fight. The group also wants judicial involvement as a final step in the approval process.